The following information provides a comprehensive review of labor availability in the Roanoke labor market area. This review demonstrates the large, untapped, available supply of labor in Roanoke.
Specifically, our research has shown, along with our existing labor force of 157,548, there are over 10,000 total new entrants into the labor force each year alone from college/university and secondary educational institutions located in and around the region. A survey of major local firms also indicated a large number of new applicants each month, providing those firms with a more than adequate pool of applicants from which to fulfill staffing needs.
We also calculate a large number of non-participants, over 82,500, in the region; this group, comprised of housewives and others, provides a source of additional potential new entrants. Along with 7,971 unemployed persons counted in December 2008, we calculate 5,664 persons are employed yet remain below the poverty level, indicating the existence of a potential pool of "underemployed" who would be willing to move to another job to improve their wages.
The Roanoke MSA dominates the local labor draw area as well, with a net in-commuting total each day of almost 15,000 workers. This influx means Roanoke City is the predominant locality in an extended labor draw area containing a total labor force of almost 650,000. Firms in the city draw from this extended labor pool.